Paris: With Pen and Pencil eBook

In 1814, when the allied forces were approaching Paris,
heavy batteries were planted in Pere la Chaise, commanding
the plain which extends to Vincennes. The walls
had loop-holes, and the scholars of Alfort occupied
it and defended it against three Russian attacks.
The last was successful, and the Russians were masters
of the field. The city of Paris capitulated that
very evening, and the Russian troops encamped among
the tombs.

[Illustration: PARIS FROM MONTMARTRE.]

[Illustration: COLUMN OF JULY 8—­PLACE
JUILLET.]

In coming back from Pere la Chaise, I saw the Column
of July, erected in memory of the victims of the July
of the great revolution. Upon this spot the old
Bastille stood, and the column indicates it.

THE PRISONS.

The public prisons of Paris are nine in number:
for persons upon whom a verdict has not been pronounced,
and against whom an indictment lies; for debt; for
political offenses; for persons sentenced to death
or the hulks; for criminals of a young age; for females;
and for offenders in the army.

In the penal prisons, the inmates are allowed books
and the privilege of writing, but are all obliged
to labor, each, if he wishes, choosing the trade in
which he is fitted best to succeed. The men receive
a pound and a half of bread per day, and the women
a fraction less.

The prison La Force is in the Rue du Roi de Sicile.
The buildings of which it is composed were once the
hotel of the duke de La Force—­hence the
name. It was converted into a prison in 1780.
A new prison for prostitutes was erected about the
same time, and was called La Petite Force. In
1830 the two prisons were united, and put under one
management, and the whole prison is given up to males
committed for trial. The prisoners are divided
into separate classes; the old offenders into one
ward, the young and comparatively innocent into another;
the old men into one apartment, and the boys into another.
The prisoners sleep in large and well ventilated chambers,
and the boys have each a small apartment which contains
a single bed. The prisoners have the privilege
of working if they wish, but they are not obliged to
do so, inasmuch as they are not yet convicted
of crime. There is a department for the sick,
a bathing-room, a parlor, and an advocate’s
room, where the prisoners can hold conversations with
their legal defenders. The number of prisoners
is very great—­ten thousand being under
the annual average confined in the prisons.

St. Lazare is a prison for women under indictment
and those who have been sentenced to a term less than
one year. One department of the prison, which
is entirely separated from the rest, is devoted to
prostitutes, and another distinct department is devoted
to girls under sixteen years of age. Each department
has its own infirmary, and a new plan has been adopted
to stimulate the inmates to industry. They are
allowed two-thirds pay for all the work they will perform
in the prison. Every kind of manufacture is carried
on in the prison—­the preparation of cashmere
yarn, hooks and eyes, etc. etc. The
number confined in this prison in a year, is over
ten thousand. The service of the prison is carried
on by the sisters of charity.